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On the occasion of the International Year of Youth UN Youth Champion, American Actress and singer Monique Coleman, best known for her role in the "High School Musical" movies, is visiting Belgium from 3 to 8 June as part of her "Gimme MO" world tour to give a voice to young people.
On Saturday, 4 June, Monique participated in a "Let's Go Urban flashmob" organized in the framework of 'Urban Exchange around the Sea', the first European project around urban arts with young dancers and coaches from Amsterdam, Utrecht and Liverpool. The project kicked off on 1 June in Antwerp. It is hosted by Let's Go urban and Antwerp European Youth Capital of 2011.
GimmeMo is an online talk show created and executive produced by Monique Coleman dedicated to empowering today's youth. Each episode features a compelling topic, such as teen homelessness, obesity, becoming environmentally conscious, body image, sex, drugs, and much more.
Their goal is to create an environment where teens feel safe and open to talking about real issues, bringing awareness to organizations that are serving teens, & conducting celebrity interviews to spotlight Hollywood's commitment to giving back. GimmeMo knows that young people are constantly on the web, so we want to meet them where they are and provide them with inspiration, resources and positive information.
For more information regarding GimmeMo Foundation or Partnerships visit the website: http://www.gimmemo.com/
Or contact them at: [email protected]
The Brussels based United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe - UNRIC provides information on UN activities to the countries of the region. It also provides liaison with institutions of the European Union in the field of information. Its outreach activities extend to all segments of society and joint campaigns, projects and events are organized with partners including the EU, governments, the media, NGOs, schools and local authorities.
United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC Brussels)
Residence Palace, Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 155, Block C2,7th and 8th floor, Brussels 1040, Belgium
Tel.: +32 2 788 8484 / Fax: 32 2 788 8485


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Grace of Monaco
- Format: DVD
- Rated: UNR
- Release Date: 12/1/2015
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Grace Kelly is a huge movie star with the promise of a glittering career when she marries Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956. Six years later, with her marriage in serious difficulty, Alfred Hitchcock offers her the chance to return to Hollywood to play the role of Marnie in his next film. But France is also threatening to annex Monaco, the tiny principality where she became the Princess. Grace is torn and forced to choose between the creative flame that still burns within her and her role as Her Serene Highness, Princess of Monaco. Stars Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth, Frank Langella and Paz Vega.

subset: commoncrawl


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State Hospital South
Contact Information:
700 East Alice
Blackfoot, Idaho 83221
Administrator – James Price
(208) 785-8401
State Hospital South is suspending patient visitation at this time due to Covid-19. We will continue to assess the current trends of infection and re-evaluate in the future. Visitors are always welcome to call and talk to the patients on the phone.
State Hospital South in Blackfoot provides psychiatric inpatient treatment and skilled nursing care for Idaho's adult and adolescent citizens with the most serious and persistent mental illnesses. The hospital works in partnership with families and communities to enable clients to return to community living. The facility is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, and is certified by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. State Hospital South includes 90 psychiatric adult beds, 29 skilled nursing beds, and 16 beds for adolescents. It also maintains a statewide program to restore competency of criminal justice patients.
The 29 skilled nursing beds in the Syringa Chalet Nursing Facility offer services to consumers with a history of behavioral or psychiatric illness. The average age of a resident is 69. Adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 are treated in a psychiatric unit that is geographically separate from adult treatment.
Treatment is provided through an interdisciplinary team, including psychiatrists and other physicians, psychologists, nurses, therapeutic recreational specialists, and social workers. The team works with patients and their families to develop and implement individual treatment plans. Treatment includes evaluation, medications, individual and group therapy, education, recreation, and discharge counseling.
Visiting hours for State Hospital South patients are from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Visits during normally scheduled treatment and activities will not be encouraged and will be at the unit's discretion.
State Hospital North
Contact Information:
300 Hospital Drive
Orofino, Idaho 83544
Administrator – Todd Hurt
(208) 476-4511
State Hospital North in Orofino is a 55-bed psychiatric hospital that provides treatment for adults in psychiatric crisis. The hospital collaborates with patients and their families, as applicable and the referring Regional Mental Health Centers to develop goals for hospitalization, and arrange follow-up care after an inpatient stay.
Hospitalization at State Hospital North is intended to be of short to intermediate duration with the objective of stabilizing presenting symptoms and returning the patient to community living in the shortest reasonable period of time. Length of stay is variable based on patient need and prevailing best practice within the mental health field. The average length of stay is approximately 70 days. At present, admissions to State Hospital North require commitment through the court system.
Treatment is individualized and is delivered within interdisciplinary treatment teams consisting of psychiatrists, a nurse practitioner, a medical doctor, licensed nurses, psychiatric technicians, masters-prepared clinicians, a psycho-social rehabilitation specialist, therapeutic recreation specialists, a dietitian and support personnel. The staff deliver a number of specialized services including: assessments and evaluations, medication management, a variety of therapies, opportunities for community integration, involvement in recreational and educational activities, and discharge planning. The facility uses the Recovery Model in treatment and promotes alignment with the patient in developing a self-directed care plan to assist them in working towards their own recovery goals.


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Toddler falls out of second-floor window in South End
STAMFORD -- A toddler who fell out of a second-story of a South End duplex in Stamford Tuesday morning sustained non-life-threatening injuries in what appears to be an accident, according to police.
The 14-month-old toddler was rushed to Stamford Hospital shortly after 10 a.m.
"It appears to be an accident. A child fell out of a window, and he's at the hospital now being treated," said Lt. Michael Noto about an hour after the incident. "At this point, it doesn't seem like serious injuries."
The boy was conscious and awake when he was transported to the hospital, said Noto. Other responders noted that the child was crying.
Joe Perry, who lives next door to the beige duplex on a small side street tucked behind the new luxury high-rises being built in the Harbor Point complex, said he saw the little boy fall from a side window, landing on the gravel below.
Perry said he saw the little boy's older brother push up the casement window, and a moment later, the young child was on the ground.
"I looked, and I saw the baby got up and was walking around," said Perry, who added that he looked dazed. "His mama went running and picked him up and went running in the house."
Perry said he saw three drops of blood on the child's head.
The toddler's mother, who refused to give her name, disputed that her older son opened the window and said it was just an accident.
"God saved my child," the mother said. She said her son cut his tongue in the fall, but suffered no cuts or bruises and was home laughing and smiling.
The child, whose name is not being released by police, has been playing with the window for a couple days, according to neighbors.
"Yesterday I told them to get him away from there. Because he just kept pushing on the window, pushing on the window, lifting it up. I told the brothers that he's going to fall out and it happened," said Denaizcha Murrell, 20, whose grandmother lives next door to the home where the accident happened. "Oh my gosh."
While the case was still active late Tuesday morning, Noto said he did not think any charges would be filed. The case was referred to the state Department of Children and Families.
firstname.lastname@example.com; 203-964-2229; http://twitter.com/MagEGordon


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St. Catherine's Church in the city of Brandenburg on the Havel in Brandenburg was built by Hinrich Brunsberg as brick church from 1401 on. It is a hall church with nave and two aisles.
Wikipedia (google translation): here
Wikipedia town of Brandenburg: here
The panorama shots were taken handheld in low light.
Brandenburg an der Havel - die Stadt im Land!


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Portsmouth-Seacoast, NH
Local things for kids to do.
Portsmouth-Seacoast, NH | Change Location
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text:
Courtesy of GoGriffs.com
BUFFALO, N.Y. – CollegeInsider.com has named Canisius junior Billy Baron the 2012-13 MAAC Co-MVP, the website announced today. Baron, who leads Canisius in scoring average at 16.9 points per game, shares the award with Niagara guard Juan'ya Green.
A team captain in his first season as a Golden Griffin, Baron became the first Canisius player since 1999-00 to be named All-MAAC First Team when the conference released its postseason awards last week. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound guard ranks fourth in the MAAC with his 16.9 points per game and his 5.0 assists per game lead the MAAC and ranks 62nd nationally. Through 31 games this year, Baron has scored 523 total points, which are the most for a Canisius player in his first season as a Griff since former Griff Ron Peaks scored 586 points during the 1977-78 campaign. Baron posted a career-high 33 points in Canisius' win at Niagara Feb. 10, and his 4.1 rebounds per game rank third-best on this year's roster. Baron was also named one of 25 finalists for the Lou Henson Award, which is given to the best mid-major Division I college basketball player in the country. That award is also presented by CollegeInsider.com.
The Griffs are currently 18-13 overall after losing to Iona in the quarterfinal round of the 2013 MAAC Men's Basketball Championship in Springfield, Mass., by a score of 89-85. The team is currently waiting to learn if it will be selected to play in a postseason tournament.


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Par foundationrepair6v dans Accueil le 11 Juillet 2016 à 07:54
Slab foundation repair
Does your property have cracked walls, bulging floors or doors that don't close? All of these problems might be indications of difficulties with your house�s foundation. Foundation settlement can result in significant structural problems within a home. Fortunately, there are methods by which we could repair a concrete foundation without needing to grow it down and start right from the start.
Foundation movement and settlement that will need repair might be due to building on clay that is expansive, improperly compacted soils or poor maintenance across the foundation. Homes that have been there longer are usually more susceptible to these problems especially those in semi-arid areas. Whatever the cause, foundation settlement can render structures unsafe. If you notice any warning signs of force on the building blocks, repair the problem immediately.
There are 2 common slab foundation repair methods employed in lifting concrete foundation which includes sank. These include piering and slabjacking. Piering involves fixing foundations by putting supports beneath the concrete in order to lift and offer the concrete. Alternatively, slabjacking involves filling the space that is beneath the foundation which has a grout mixture whose purpose is to float the building blocks to its original position.
foundation repair
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Most people think that buying a car is a difficult process. I know this because I have several friends with old cars, terrible cars, cars so bad that their entire list of amenities consists of government-mandated safety equipment, and they refuse to buy a new one. And it's not because they're too busy, or a new car is too expensive. Instead, it's because the stress and aggravation of buying a car is so bad that they would rather drive around and say things like: "I enjoy reaching across the seat to unlock the door! It's good exercise!"
And, frankly, it's hard to blame them. The last time I bought a car, I visited the local Cadillac dealership. I went there with my girlfriend and we stood outside for several minutes, looking at Cadillacs, until a salesman walked up, deduced that we aren't of the age where your body parts swell up when the weather changes, and asked: "Are you lost?"
No, that isn't really what he said. What he said, over the next four hours, is that the car I was considering is an exceptionally good Cadillac, and that it's hard to imagine a better Cadillac than this one, and that it rides like a Cadillac, and handles like a Cadillac, and it's probably the best Cadillac ever made, assuming, of course, that I agree to buy today.
So I did. But once you agree that you'll buy the car, you aren't finished. No, sirree! Shaking hands with the salesman is like a signal that the process is just beginning.
The next thing that happens is some guy walks up to "present a few options with your car," which means he's going to show you aftermarket accessories. This involves walking into the parts department to examine a wall of wheels, and grilles, and little twirly keychains that are priced in a strategic manner that involves a) leading focus groups to discover what these items should cost, and then b) doubling it.
You have to feign interest in this for 10, maybe 20 minutes, as he explains your aftermarket grille options, namely that you can have a silver grille, or a black grille, or – and he grabs your arm here, because this is really too radical for some people – a grille that is both silver and black. Eventually, you tell him you'll "think about it," even though the only thing you're thinking is how terrible it must be to have a job selling aftermarket grilles.
Next, you're led into the F&I Manager's office under the pretense of signing the paperwork. But really, you're going to hear about even more automotive accessories, except that you can't actually see these accessories. This is stuff like wheel and tire packages, and LoJack, and undercoating, and VIN etching, and by this point you really start to wonder if maybe you should just move to some city with excellent public transportation and swear off car ownership for life, even if it means leaving behind your family.
So all of that sounds pretty bad, and it is. But I've left off the worst part about buying a new car: the destination charge.
For those of you unfamiliar with the destination charge, allow me to explain. Let's say you watch a commercial for a new car, and the commercial says the car starts at $19,995. That's great, right? You can walk into a dealer with twenty grand and walk out, after four hours of insisting you don't want dealer-installed splash guards, with this brand-new, zero-mile, perfectly clean new car.
Except that you can't. And that's because of destination charge.
You see, in the car world, prices are advertised before they add in the vehicle's destination charge. In other words, that car they're advertising for $19,995 is actually more like $19,995 plus a $795 destination charge, which may sound like a small number until you realize it's something like four percent of the entire value of the car.
Now, I wouldn't have a problem with the destination charge if there were some way you didn't have to pay it. For instance: you can get that advertised $19,995 price, but you have to come down to the docks and pick up your car from Big Al, the union longshoreman who saves his deodorant for special occasions.
But here's the thing: you can't get out of the destination charge. It's not some tacky add-on they try to stick you with when you're too tired to argue any further. You have to pay it, and it's included in the price of every new car, whether you like it or not. Drawing this bizarre pricing strategy to its natural conclusion, my question is: why stop at the destination charge? Why not advertise each car for $18,995 plus tires? Or $16,495 plus doors? Or $83.50, plus all the parts that make up a working automobile, except for a passenger side door mirror?
The thing about this topic that really surprises me isn't the fact that automakers are still allowed to do it. It's that they're allowed to do it in the automotive industry, which is so heavily regulated that you can't start a vehicle in the fall without a helpful tire pressure warning light reminding you that it's getting cold outside.
Imagine if other industries started following this trend. Oh, sure, online retailers quote prices before shipping – but that's because the item is in a warehouse somewhere, and the shipping cost is dependent on where you live.
But imagine this: you walk into an Apple Store to buy one of those shiny new computers all the college kids these days are using to browse Facebook. You're excited. You're happy. You pay the $1,499 retail price. You go home, eager to set it up and get started. And then you glance at your receipt, only to discover they tacked on an extra $75 "destination charge" for an item that was sitting in the store.
I bet you'd be pretty upset if that happened. But hopefully, you wouldn't be too angry. After all: at least they didn't try to sell you VIN etching.
@DougDeMuro is the author of Plays With Cars. He operates PlaysWithCars.com. He owned an E63 AMG wagon and once tried to evade police at the Tail of the Dragon using a pontoon boat. (It didn't work.) He worked as a manager for Porsche Cars North America before quitting to become a writer, largely because it meant he no longer had to wear pants. Also, he wrote this entire bio himself in the third person.


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British mobile networks have been quietly dropping Sony Ericsson handsets, a sign that the brand is en route to a swift exit from the market. The buyout and forthcoming rebrand as Sony could rekindle demand for the phones, but in the meantime, the Sony phones made during its marriage with Swedish company Ericsson are off the shelves.
Vodafone has stopped selling new Sony Ericsson phones and has chosen not to include SE's latest flagship phone, the Xperia Arc S, in its product lineup online or in stores. Sony Ericsson phones are still available from Vodafone, but it's only selling out its existing stock.
A Vodafone spokesperson confirmed the omission in a call with The Reg today, after a reader pointed out a forum post from last month where a Vodafoner admitted that SE lines had been dumped.
"It's not the case that we're never going to stock Sony Ericsson phones," the Vodafoner told us, "but we don't have any plans to bring in the latest handset. But obviously we can't take every handset, we have to pick the ones we think will be right for our customers."
Commenting specifically on the Xperia Arc S, the spokesperson said: "we don't have any plans to bring it into our product line-up".
On the Vodafone website a drop-down list that allows you to browse phones by maker doesn't offer Sony Ericsson as an option. The Xperia Arc S is available with Vodafone SIM cards through third parties, but the Vodafoner stressed that those deals weren't official Vodafone packages.
The Vodafoner mentioned that the company does plan to stock the new Sony gaming device the PSVita when it lands in the UK.
Neither T-Mobile nor Orange's online shop stock Sony Ericsson's new Xperia Arc S either: T-Mobile is only offering two SE handsets – the Xperia Neo V and the Xperia Mini Pro. Orange is only offering the Xperia Ray.
Three does appear to be selling the phone.
Sony's next generation of phones – minus the Ericsson tag – will include the Xperia Ion, expected Q3 this year. ®


text:
Search results
(1 - 1 of 1)
- Title
- IronEx-I, an in situ iron-enrichment experiment,
- Description
- An in situ iron-enrichment experiment near the Galapagos Islands was performed in October 1993. Here we report the theoretical and practical considerations of creating such a patch of iron-enriched surface water, as well as the strategies employed for the detection of the patch and the biological and chemical signals which developed, in an area dominated by advective processes. Physical and chemical models were used to predict the speciation, solubility, and the final concentration of iron in surface waters injected with acidic iron sulfate. A trial injection off the California coast in which 800 L of a 0.5 M FeSO4 were introduced into the ship's wake over a 1.5 km2 area, was used to test these predictions. Iron concentrations were determined continually onboard during the initial experiment as the ship steamed in transects through the enriched patch. The results indicate excellent spatial agreement with model predictions and final concentrations that were consistent with the chemical model. However, the use of a Cartesian coordinate system during rejection resulted in an extremely compressed, heterogeneous patch. Results from this preliminary experiment were then applied towards the development and implementation of the first open ocean iron enrichment experiment (IronEx I) near the Galapagos Islands in October 1993. The development and results of these methodologies are presented. In the IronEx I equatorial experiment, a Lagrangian coordinate system was established using a drogued buoy (equipped with GPS and packet radio) and the iron-enriched area (64 km2 containing 443 kg of Fe) was tagged with the inert chemical tracer sulfurhexafluoride (SF6). This strategy resulted in a fairly rectangular, homogeneous enriched patch initially detectable by both Fe and SF6 determination. Shipboard analysis and airborne observations confirmed good spatial agreement between the Lagrangian drifter and the biological and chemical signatures in the patch. Biological and chemical sampling of the enriched area showed an increase in chlorophyll, primary production, biomass and photosynthetic energy conversion efficiency relative to waters outside the patch, supporting the hypothesis that iron limits phytoplankton growth and biomass in a 'bottom up' manner in this area. The ability to create a coherent patch and track it over time led to this first open-ocean test of the iron hypothesis., Cited By (since 1996):42, CODEN: DSROE, ,
- Author
- Coale, Johnson, Fitzwater, Blain, Stanton, Coley
- Date


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Ford Excursion - Silence Is Overrated
Big Audio In A Big Package
We often describe vehicles built by custom shops as a rolling business card, showing off their talents and giving potential customers an idea of what to expect when their own project is completed. That description would fit this Excursion as well, but since it is an Excursion, Don and Erin Brooks' towering creation is more like a rolling billboard for their business, Big Tyme Industries in Mesa, Arizona.
The Excursion was lifted skyward with a Donahoe Racing 10-inch leaf spring kit that was installed along with double shock hoops to carry the Fox Racing 2.0 remote-reservoir shocks. Both front and rear differentials received 4.11 gears and Mag-Hytec covers before they were attached to the drivetrain with custom driveshafts built by Dan's Driveline. Don didn't want any ordinary wheels for his Excursion, so he chose a set of 24-inch forged Weld Racing Cheyenne wheels that would stand up to the punishment the heavy-duty Ford would be dishing out. The Weld wheels were shod in 37x13.50R24 Toyo Open Country M/T tires for plenty of off-road grip and mild street manners.
A 6.0L Power Stroke diesel churns the tires via a Monster Transmission-built TorqueShift five-speed automatic with a custom torque converter. The transmission upgrade was necessary because Don's Power Stroke runs a Bully Dog Performance Management Tool and an MBRP turbo-back 4-inch exhaust system that lets the Garrett turbo spool up tremendous amounts of power and torque. How much power? So far the total output has been clocked at 468 hp and 937 lb-ft. That's nearly double the output of a stock 6.0L Power Stroke.
While the whine of a free-spooling turbo coming from a straight exhaust will draw plenty of stares, Don wanted to be able to hold those eyes on his Excursion even when the truck was parked. For the bodywork, he called upon Super Stripes in Henderson, Nevada, to lay down some House of Kolor black, pewter, silver, and tangerine with a custom mix of pearl on top. The color was sprayed after the truck emblems were shaved and before Don installed Harley Davidson headlights and an RBP grille.
Don chose the same colors for the inside that Super Stripes used on the outside, as Fat Boy Customs in Las Vegas, Nevada, used black leather and orange and silver suede to wrap the factory seats and interior. Leather and suede also found its way onto the custom sub enclosure that Don built to house a barrage of Soundstream audio components. For some chest-thumping bass, four Soundstream Tarantula TSQ-124 12-inch square subs point out of the rear hatch and are powered by two Soundstream Tarantula 1000D 1-channel, 1,000-watt amps. Mounted behind the subs, some 300 LED lights turn the subs into glowing afterburners once the sun goes down. To guarantee that the mids and highs come through crystal-clear, twelve Soundstream XT653S 61/2-inch three-way speakers are mounted in the Excursion's doors and are powered by two Tarantula 4.420 four-channel 420-watt amps. Don controls the audio signals through a Soundstream VIR-7355NRBT 7-inch touch-screen head unit and a BX4-EQ equalizer. All of that audio would be no match for a factory charging system and battery, so Don mounted four Kinetik power cells, two under the hood, and two in the sub enclosure, to serve as the reservoir for the power kicked out by the Soundstream 260-watt alternator mounted to the Power Stroke.
Don's truck has served him well as a rolling billboard, and he's got several sponsors to thank, including Soundstream, Kinetik, Fat Mat, KnuKoncepts, Toyo Tires, Bully Dog, MBRP. Amsoil, RBP, Monster Transmission, Truck Werks, Brite -n-Rite, and Prattster Graphics.


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Jim Winship was on his way to El Salvador, a country that's suffered from poverty, civil war and gang violence, when he caught a gentle reminder of where he was going.
Waiting to board a plane in Atlanta, Winship -- a UW-Whitewater professor of social work -- heard laughter.
"Salvadorans," he thought, smiling.
Winship has developed a strong interest in the people of El Salvador that began in the early 1970s when he was a Peace Corps volunteer. Winship knows that -- despite the challenges they face -- people in El Salvador are ranked among the happiest in the world.
"It's not the whole picture, but it's part of it," he said.
Winship recently published a book, "Coming of Age in El Salvador," that examines some of the challenges facing El Salvador's youth. He also was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholar Teaching/Research award that will take him to Cartagena, Colombia in 2015.
Winship said people in the U.S. should care about what happens in Latin America. Recent news reports about young migrants underline his point.
"Some people call it a flood," he said. "My book is about that, and also about the Salvadorans who aren't here. But we are incredibly interconnected. We are interconnected technologically and economically in ways we haven't been before.
"What happens here affects them and what happens there affects us."
A few years ago, Winship heard author Walter Mosley deliver a lecture on the UW-Whitewater campus. Mosley recounted a conversation he had with youth in Ghana.
"The world knows little about your situation and cares even less," Mosley said.
Those words resonated with Winship.
"It became part of the motivation for writing this book and doing this research," he said. "The idea was to not just understand this reality but to communicate it -- that was the purpose."
In January, Winship will depart for Cartagena. The four-month project is also supported by a UW-Whitewater faculty sabbatical/chancellor fellowship.
In addition to teaching undergraduate courses at the Universidad de Cartagena, Winship will research communities marginalized by armed conflict.
He also plans to produce and leave behind digital educational resources.
"There's a real problem with bibliographic resources in Latin America," Winship said. "Textbooks are expensive and students don't have much money."
This is Winship's second Fulbright award. His first, in 2005, launched his research in El Salvador. Winship has returned to that country 14 times in the last decade, examining issues related to youth and migration. In August, Winship will return to El Salvador to speak at events sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and the government of El Salvador.
During his research trips, Winship has learned firsthand why studies rank Salvadorans as so happy. He said El Salvador is an expressive country and people have close and strong relationships.
Winship has also learned something about himself in this country of happy people.
"I laugh more when I am there," he said.
-- Written by Ben Jones, top photo by Craig Schreiner
Jeff Angileri
Sara Kuhl
Jim Winship will give a presentation on his new book, "Coming of Age in El Salvador," at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 29, at the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library, 431 W. Center St., Whitewater.


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2009 Triangle Metro Heart Walk
The 2009 Triangle Metro Heart Walk will take place on Sunday, Sept. 27, at the RBC Center.
Paula Miller, MD, of UNC Cardiology, is UNC Hospitals' chairperson for the Heart Walk. She is assisted by Beverly Pizza, the contact person for UNC Hospitals' team captains and walkers. Pizza can be contacted at email@example.com.
For more information about the Heart Walk go to http://www.starttriangle.org/.


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Multiple Hope College singers earned honors in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Michigan State Chapter Auditions, held at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo on Saturday, Nov. 1.
Hope students earned four first-place awards and one second-place award.
° Sarah Ashcroft, a sophomore from Holland, earned first place in the Second-Year Women's Division.
° Jared Graybiel, a junior from Lebanon, Ind., earned first place in the Advanced Musical Theatre Division.
° Ross Green, a junior from Plainwell, earned first place in the Second-Year Men's Division.
° Briana Sosenheimer, a junior from Fort Wayne, Ind., earned first place in the Third-Year Women's Division.
° Katie Ross, a senior from St. Louis Park, Minn., earned second place in the Fourth-Year Women's Division.
Ashcroft, Graybiel, Green and Ross all study voice with Linda Dykstra, associate professor of music. Sosenheimer studies voice with Dr. Margaret Kennedy-Dygas, professor of music.
All of the students will have the opportunity to compete in the Great Lakes Regional Auditions in Youngstown, Ohio, in March, competing with other student winners from Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Ontario, Canada.


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Double row dot and line bracelet.
Ref: E1A3007
A double row dot and line bracelet set with 2 and 4mm premium quality cubic zirconia, claw set in a rhodium plated sterling silver mount.
The clasp is 9ct white gold to give extra strength and security.
Special sizes can be made though these can take about one month to complete from time of order.
The setting on this bracelet is slim and fine so care has to be taken when it is worn.
Other images:
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Design: MyWebSpinners | Photography: Tim White Studio 0207 736 8845


text:
syngo.CT Colonography PEV
syngo.CT Colonography PEV
syngo.CT Colonography PEV (Polyp Enhanced Viewing) is a fully automated computer assisted second reading tool that is optional to syngo.CT Colonography and already included in the CT Oncology Engine Pro. Results are automatically pre-processed in the prone and supine datasets immediately upon being sent to syngo.via. The results are ready for reading as soon the patient case is loaded.
Requerimientos Generales
Please Note: Additional technical pre-requisites may apply. Upon receiving your request, your local Siemens representative will clarify whether your system meets the requirements.
Recommended as bundle with syngo.CT Colonography and syngo.CT Colonography Advanced.
Optionally add syngo.CT Segmentation, syngo.PET&CT Cross-Timepoint and syngo.Lung CAD.


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STEUBENVILLE, Ohio
HOURS AFTER SUNSET, the cars pulled up, one after another, bringing dozens of teenagers from several nearby high schools to an end-of-summer party in August in a neighborhood here just off the main drag.
For some of the teenagers, it would be one last big night out before they left this decaying steel town, bound for college.
For others, it was a way to cap off a summer of socializing before school started in less than two weeks. For the lucky ones on the Steubenville High School football team, it would be the start of another season of possible glory as stars in this football-crazy county.
Some in the crowd, which would grow to close to 50 people, arrived with beer. Those who did not were met by cases of it and a makeshift bar of vodka, rum and whiskey, all for the taking, no identification needed. In a matter of no time, many of the partygoers — many of them were high school athletes — were imbibing from red plastic cups inside the home of a volunteer football coach at Steubenville High at what would be the first of several parties that night.
"Huge party!!! Banger!!!!" Trent Mays, a sophomore quarterback on Steubenville's team, posted on Twitter, referring to one of the bashes that evening.
By sunrise, though, some people in and around Steubenville had gotten word that the night of fun on Aug. 11 might have taken a grim turn, and that members of the Steubenville High football team might have been involved. Twitter posts, videos and photographs circulated by some who attended the nightlong set of parties suggested that an unconscious girl had been sexually assaulted over several hours while others watched. She may have even been urinated on.
In one photograph posted on Instagram by a Steubenville High football player, the girl, who was from across the Ohio River in Weirton, W.Va., is shown looking unresponsive as two boys carry her by her wrists and ankles. Twitter users wrote the words "rape" and "drunk girl" in their posts.
Rumors of a possible crime spread, and people, often with little reliable information, quickly took sides. Some residents and others on social media blamed the girl, saying she put the football team in a bad light and put herself in a position to be violated. Others supported the girl, saying she was a victim of what they believed was a hero-worshiping culture built around football players who think they can do no wrong.
On Aug. 22, the possible crime made local news when the police came forward with details: two standout Steubenville football players — Mays, 16, from Bloomingdale, Ohio, and Ma'lik Richmond, 16, from Steubenville — were arrested and later charged with raping a 16-year-old girl and kidnapping her by taking her to several parties while she was too drunk to resist.
The case is not the first time a high school football team has been entangled in accusations of sexual assault. But the situation in Steubenville has another layer to it that separates it from many others: It is a sexual assault accusation in the age of social media, when teenagers are capturing much of their lives on their camera phones — even repugnant, possibly criminal behavior, as they did in Steubenville in August — and then posting it on the Web, like a graphic, public diary.
Within days of the possible sexual assault, an online personality who often blogs about crime zeroed in on those public comments and photographs and injected herself into the story, complicating it and igniting ire in the community. She posted the information on her site and wrote online that the police and town officials were giving the football players special treatment.
The city's police chief begged for witnesses to come forward, but received little response. In time, the county prosecutor and the judge in charge of handling crimes by juveniles recused themselves from the case because they had ties to the football team.
"It's a very, very small community here," said Juvenile Judge Samuel W. Kerr of Jefferson County, who recused himself. His granddaughter dated one of the football players initially linked to the incident. "Everybody knows everybody."
After more than two months in jail, they are under house arrest on rape charges, awaiting a trial that has been set for Feb. 13. Mays, a star wrestler, also faces a charge of disseminating photographs of a nude minor. The kidnapping charges were dropped.
The parents of the boys, who declined requests for extended interviews, said the boys were innocent. The boys' lawyers assert that the boys have been tried unfairly online, and vow that they will be exonerated when all the facts are known.
The case has entangled dozens of people in and out of this town.
Three Steubenville High School athletes became witnesses for the prosecution and testified against Mays and Richmond, their friends, at a probable cause hearing in October. The crime blogger and more than a dozen people who posted comments on her Web site have been sued by a Steubenville football player and his parents for defamation. The girl's mother, in several brief interviews last month, said her family had received threats, so extra police officers have been patrolling her neighborhood.
"The thing I found most disturbing about this is that there were other people around when this was going on," William McCafferty, the Steubenville police chief, said of the events that unfolded. "Nobody had the morals to say, 'Hey, stop it, that isn't right.'
"If you could charge people for not being decent human beings, a lot of people could have been charged that night."
A Bright Spot in Steubenville
Steubenville is an industrial city in Appalachia — locals love to note that it is hometown to the Rat Pack crooner Dean Martin, the pornographic movie actress Traci Lords and the oddsmaker Jimmy Snyder, known as Jimmy the Greek. The city once was teeming with so much gambling, prostitution and organized crime that Steubenville was given the nickname Sin City. But now the downtown is a skeleton of its former self: though the Steubenville visitors center sells life-size cutouts of Dean Martin and "Dino Lives!" T-shirts, many stores are abandoned, boarded up long ago.
The Grand Theater, once a lavish Art Deco movie house, last showed a film in 1979. Around the corner, Denmark's women's clothing store is now a graveyard for discarded hangers and broken clothing racks. In the window of the store is a dusty Woman's Home Companion magazine from 1948, just about the time Steubenville began its long and painful turn for the worse.
The steel mills that used to employ thousands and draw people here have all but ground to a halt, and the once-plentiful jobs in the coal mines are dwindling. The lack of jobs scared off residents at such a frenzied pace that Steubenville had by far the steepest decline in population of any metropolitan area in Ohio from 1970 through 2000, according to a study by Ohio State University.
And among those who have stayed — about 18,400 in Steubenville — many are struggling. The median household income is $33,188, about a third lower than the national figure. More than one-quarter of the residents are living below the poverty level. Also, the police say the city's drug problems are growing, with heroin addiction the latest vice. In recent decades, new residents arrived from Chicago, bringing "Chicago-style violence," like drive-by shootings in the tough parts of town, said McCafferty, the police chief.
Despite all those components to this depressed city, a bright light remains for the people here: the Steubenville Big Red football team.
The team recorded its first season in 1900 and quickly became a legend in Ohio high school football. It has won nine state championships, including back-to-back undefeated seasons in 2005 and 2006.
Some former players call it a highlight of their lives to play at Harding Stadium, a gleaming shrine to football also called Death Valley. The stands seat 10,000, more than half the town's population, and the home side is packed every game, sometimes so packed that it is standing room only. Tailgating in nearby parking lots usually begins about 9 a.m. for a 7:30 p.m. game. Several years ago, Halloween trick-or-treating was postponed because it fell on game day.
Inside the stadium, a big thrill for fans is seeing a sculpture of a rearing red stallion called Man o' War shoot a six-foot flame from its mouth, marking each time Big Red scores.
The team's Web site declares that Big Red is "keeping Steubenville on the map." That is probably true.
"Everybody around here goes to games on Friday nights, and I mean everybody — people come for miles," said Jim Flanagan, 48, who grew up in the area. "It's basically the small-town effect. People live and die based on Big Red because they usually win and it makes everybody feel good about themselves when times are tough."
But emphatic pride over high school athletes, Flanagan said, has turned into something that can feel ugly.
"The players are considered heroes, and that's pretty pathetic, because they've been able to get away with things for years because of it," Flanagan said. "Everyone just looks the other way."
A Night Takes a Grim Turn
Just before 10 a.m. on Aug. 11, fans who are part of what is called the Big Red Nation poured into Harding Stadium clad in the team's colors, red and black, to see Big Red's second scrimmage of the season and to get a sense of how the team would fare this year.
What they saw were two players who stood out from the rest: Mays and Richmond.
Mays, who hails from a nearby town and who went to Steubenville High because of its successful football and wrestling programs, showed off his strong arm at quarterback. Richmond, who the police say came from a troubled home and has lived in Steubenville with guardians since he was 8, dominated as a quick and tall wide receiver. He also was a star of the Big Red basketball and track teams.
The two athletes gave hope to fans that Big Red might be headed back to the top.
Of Mays, one person at the time wrote on JJHuddle.com, a Web site for Ohio high school sports, "If he has the composure, could be very enjoyable to watch that young man grow up with Ma'lik." Mays and Richmond helped Big Red prevail that day in the scrimmage, before heading off to a night of parties.
Across the river, in a well-kept two-story colonial house in a solidly middle-class West Virginia neighborhood, the 16-year-old girl told her parents that she was going to a sleepover at a friend's house that night. She then headed off to those parties, too.
She is not a Steubenville High student; she attended a smaller, religion-based school, where she was an honor student and an athlete.
At the parties, the girl had so much to drink that she was unable to recall much from that night, and nothing past midnight, the police said. The girl began drinking early on, according to an account that the police pieced together from witnesses, including two of the three Steubenville High athletes who testified in court in October. By 10 or 10:30 that night, it was clear that the dark-haired teenager was drunk because she was stumbling and slurring her words, witnesses testified.
Some people at the party taunted her, chanted and cheered as a Steubenville High baseball player dared bystanders to urinate on her, one witness testified.
About two hours later, the girl left the party with several Big Red football players, including Mays and Richmond, witnesses said. They stayed only briefly at a second party before leaving for their third party of the night. Two witnesses testified that the girl needed help walking. One testified that she was carried out of the house by Mays and Richmond while she was "sleeping."
She woke up long enough to vomit in the street, a witness said, and she remained there alone for several minutes with her top off. Another witness said Mays and Richmond were holding her hair back.
Afterward, they headed to the home of one football player who has now become a witness for the prosecution. That player told the police that he was in the back seat of his Volkswagen Jetta with Mays and the girl when Mays proceeded to flash the girl's breasts and penetrate her with his fingers, while the player videotaped it on his phone. The player, who shared the video with at least one person, testified that he videotaped Mays and the girl "because he was being stupid, not making the right choices." He said he later deleted the recording.
The girl "was just sitting there, not really doing anything," the player testified. "She was kind of talking, but I couldn't make out the words that she was saying."
At that third party, the girl could not walk on her own and vomited several times before toppling onto her side, several witnesses testified. Mays then tried to coerce the girl into giving him oral sex, but the girl was unresponsive, according to the player who videotaped Mays and the girl.
The player said he did not try to stop it because "at the time, no one really saw it as being forceful."
At one point, the girl was on the ground, naked, unmoving and silent, according to two witnesses who testified. Mays, they said, had exposed himself while he was right next to her.
Richmond was behind her, with his hands between her legs, penetrating her with his fingers, a witness said.
"I tried to tell Trent to stop it," another athlete, who was Mays's best friend, testified. "You know, I told him, 'Just wait — wait till she wakes up if you're going to do any of this stuff. Don't do anything you're going to regret.' "
He said Mays answered: "It's all right. Don't worry."
That boy took a photograph of what Mays and Richmond were doing to the girl. He explained in court how he wanted her to know what had happened to her, but he deleted it from his phone, he testified, after showing it to several people.
The girl slept on a couch in the basement of that home that night, with Mays alongside her before he took a spot on the floor.
When she awoke, she was unaware of what had happened to her, she has told her parents and the police. But by then, the story of her night was already unfolding on the Internet, on Twitter and via text messages. Compromising and explicit photographs of her were posted and shared.
Within a day, a family member in town shared with the girl's parents more disturbing visuals: a photograph posted on Instagram of their daughter who looked passed out at a party and a YouTube video of a former Steubenville baseball player talking about a rape. That former player, who graduated earlier this year, also posted on Twitter, "Song of the night is definitely Rape Me by Nirvana," and "Some people deserve to be peed on," which was reshared on Twitter by several people, including Mays.
The parents then notified the police and took their daughter to a hospital. At 1:38 a.m. on Aug. 14, the girl's parents walked into the Steubenville police station with a flash drive with photographs from online, Twitter posts and the video on it. It was all the evidence the girl's parents had, leaving the police with the task of filling in the details of what had happened that night. The police said the case was challenging partly because too much time had passed since the suspected rape. By then, the girl had taken at least one shower and might have washed away evidence, said McCafferty, the police chief. He added that it also was too late for toxicology tests to determine if she had been drugged.
"My daughter learned about what had happened to her that night by reading the story about it in the local newspaper," the girl's mother said.
"How would you like to go through that as a mother, seeing your daughter, who is your entire world, treated like that?" the mother said. "It was devastating for all of us."
Mays and Richmond were arrested Aug. 22, about a week after the girl's parents reported the suspected rape.
Taking Sides on Blogs
Alexandria Goddard, a 45-year-old Web analyst who once lived in Steubenville and writes about national crime on a blog, heard about the case early on and rushed to investigate it herself. She told The Cleveland Plain Dealer in September that she did so because she had little faith that the authorities would do a thorough job.
Before many of the partygoers could delete their posts, photographs or videos, she took screen shots of them, posting them on her site, Prinniefied.com. On Aug. 24, just after the arrests, she wrote on her site that it was "a slam dunk case" because, she said, Mays and Richmond videotaped and photographed their crime and then posted those images on the Web. Goddard pressed her case.
"What normal person would even consider that posting the brutal rape of a young girl is something that should be shared with their peers?" she wrote. "Do they think because they are Big Red players that the rules don't apply to them?"
She cited by name several current and former Steubenville athletes, accusing them of having a criminal role in the suspected assault by failing to stop it and then disseminating photographs of it. According to court documents, Goddard responded to a comment that read, "Students by day ... gang rape participants by night" by writing that the football coach should be ashamed of letting players linked to the incident remain on the field. In another post, she added, "Why aren't more kids in jail. They all knew."
Of the Big Red athletes who were with Mays and Richmond that night, she said: "No, you are not stars. You are criminals who are walking around right now on borrowed time."
Anonymous commenters on her blog took aim at Steubenville High, its football coaching staff and the local police for not disciplining more players or making more arrests in connection with the rape accusation. On another site, Change.org, a person started a petition demanding that the school and the coach publicly apologize to the girl. The petition also asked that the Steubenville schools superintendent admit that there was a "rape culture and excessive adulation of male athletes" at Steubenville High.
In a day, 100 people signed the petition, and 169 signed before no more signatures were accepted.
Around town, the discussion of what might have happened that night in August raged, growing more heated by the day. The accusations on Goddard's blog, posted by Goddard and others, sparked more debate. The local newspaper, The Herald-Star, ran a letter to the editor from Joe Scalise, a Steubenville resident, who criticized the blogger's site, saying it "has lent itself to character assassination and has begun to resemble a lynch mob."
Even without much official public information about the night, some people in town are skeptical of the police account, like Nate Hubbard, a Big Red volunteer coach.
As he stood in the shadow of Harding Stadium, where he once dazzled the crowd with his runs, Hubbard gave voice to some of the popular, if harsh, suspicions.
"The rape was just an excuse, I think," said the 27-year-old Hubbard, who is No. 2 on the Big Red's career rushing list.
"What else are you going to tell your parents when you come home drunk like that and after a night like that?" said Hubbard, who is one of the team's 19 coaches. "She had to make up something. Now people are trying to blow up our football program because of it."
There is no shortage of people who believe the opposite. They absolutely accept the account of sexual assault, and are weary of what they call the protection and indulgence afforded the football team. That said, more than a dozen people interviewed last month who were critical of the football team and its protected status, real or perceived, did not want their names used in connection with comments about the team, for fear of retribution from Big Red football fans.
One man said he wanted to see the accused boys go to prison, but insisted that he remain anonymous because he did not want his house to be a target for vandalism.
Bill Miller, a painter who played for Big Red in the 1980s, said the coach was to blame because he was too lenient with players regarding bad behavior off the field.
"There's a set of rules that don't apply to everybody," he said of what he called the favoritism regarding the players. "This has been happening since the early '80s; this is nothing new. It's disgusting. I can't stand it. The culture is not what it should be. It's not clean."
Others attacked Goddard, the crime blogger, for her commentary regarding what she called the town's twisted football culture and its special treatment of football players, including a player who is suing her for defamation. As part of the legal action against her by the player and his family, the court has allowed the family's lawyers to seek the identities of those people who disparaged the player by name on the blog. The player has not been charged with any crime.
Goddard, who has not been located by the court so it can serve her with a copy of the complaint, did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment. She remains active on her blog.
Goddard's lawyers, Thomas G. Haren and Jeffrey M. Nye, said that their client was a journalist whose work was protected by the First Amendment.
"This case strikes at the heart of the freedom of speech and of the press," they said in a statement. "We intend to see those constitutional guarantees vindicated at the end of the day."
Seeking Evidence
Despite the seeming abundance of material online regarding the night of the suspected rape and the number of teenagers who were at the parties that night, the police still have had trouble establishing what anyone might regard as an airtight case.
A medical examination at a hospital more than one day after the parties did not reveal any evidence, like semen, that might have supported an accusation of rape, the police said. The Steubenville police knocked on doors of the people thought to be at the parties, but not many people were forthcoming with information. In several instances, the police seized cellphones so they could look for photographs or videos related to the case.
Eventually, 15 phones and 2 iPads were confiscated and analyzed by a cybercrime expert at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. That expert could not retrieve deleted photographs and videos on most of the phones.
In the end, the expert recovered two naked photographs of the girl. One photograph showed the girl face down on the floor at one party, naked with her arms tucked beneath her, according to testimony given at a hearing in October. The other photograph was not described. Both photographs were found on Mays's iPhone. No photograph or video showed anyone involved in a sexual act with the girl.
Anonymous complaints and chatter on the Internet about a less than fully aggressive investigation have perhaps not surprisingly proliferated.
It has left McCafferty, the police chief, fuming and frustrated.
For weeks after the girl's parents came forward, he again pleaded to the other partygoers to come forward with information about the possible sexual assault. Only one did, he said.
"Everybody on those Web sites kept saying stuff that wasn't true and saying, 'Why wasn't this person arrested? Why aren't the police doing anything about it?' " he said. "Everybody wanted to incriminate more of the football players, some because some of the other schools in the area are simply jealous of Big Red."
McCafferty, who has been the police chief for 11 years, is sensitive when it comes to criticism of his police force. He took over in the wake of a United States Department of Justice inquiry into the Steubenville Police Department's patterns of false arrests and excessive force. And he now goes out of his way to try to assure residents that they can trust the Police Department again.
He said it bothered him when he heard people say that Big Red players got away with crimes in town. If crimes are being committed, he said, they are not being reported. He said no one had ever given him a concrete example of players' receiving special treatment.
In 23 years on the force, he said, he can only remember one player before Mays and Richmond being arrested; that player was convicted of assault.
"It's always, 'They said players are getting away with things,' but when I ask who 'they' is, no one can tell me," McCafferty said.
Standing by His Players
In this part of the football-obsessed Ohio Valley — where at least several houses in every neighborhood have a "Roll Red Roll" or a "Big Red" sign out front — everybody knows Coach Reno Saccoccia. He has coached two generations of players at Big Red and has won three state titles and 85 percent of his games, according to the team's Web site. The football team's field is named Reno Field.
This season, the coach, who is used to winning, had to do without Mays and Richmond. But others who were at the parties and might have witnessed the suspected assault continued to play on the team. Saccoccia, a 63-year-old who brims with bravado, was the sole person in charge of determining whether any players would be punished.
Saccoccia, pronounced SOCK-otch, told the principal and school superintendent that the players who posted online photographs and comments about the girl the night of the parties said they did not think they had done anything wrong. Because of that, he said, he had no basis for benching those players.
The two players who testified at a hearing in early October to determine if there was enough evidence to continue the case were eventually suspended from the team. That came eight games into the 10-game regular season.
Approached in November to be interviewed about the case, Saccoccia said he did not "do the Internet," so he had not seen the comments and photographs posted online from that night. When asked again about the players involved and why he chose not to discipline them, he became agitated.
"You made me mad now," he said, throwing in several expletives as he walked from the high school to his car.
Nearly nose to nose with a reporter, he growled: "You're going to get yours. And if you don't get yours, somebody close to you will."
Shawn Crosier, the principal of Steubenville High, and Michael McVey, the superintendent of Steubenville schools, said they entrusted Saccoccia with determining whether any players should be disciplined for what they might have done or saw the night of Aug. 11. Neither Crosier nor McVey spoke to any students about the events of that summer night, they said, because they were satisfied that Saccoccia would handle it.
In an interview last month, Crosier maintained that he was not aware of what might have happened to the girl, even with all of the talk in the town, until three Big Red athletes testified in early October. At the same time, he said that he might have read the online petition that called for a public apology from the players and the team. He said that if he had, he had not thought much of it.
McVey said he was not aware of the team having any off-field issues before this one.
"If this happened as a pattern, it would have set off an alarm," McVey said of the possible sexual assault. "But we think this was an isolated incident."
Neither Mays nor Richmond had a record, the police said, and each had numerous community members testify as character witnesses for them at the hearing in which the judge determined they should be tried as juveniles, not as adults.
Saccoccia was one of those witnesses, as was Michael Haney, the school's varsity basketball coach, who said Richmond was such a talented player that he ranked in the top 100 high school players in the state.
Yet the football season went on without Mays and Richmond, two of the team's stars. And Big Red's record reflected the gap in its roster.
The team finished the season 9-3 after losing in the second round of the playoffs. It was the end of a disappointing year for the program and the fans who expect so much from Big Red players.
The fans from a perennial rival, the Massillon Tigers, took advantage of the team's legal troubles and taunted players.
In the Tigers' cheering section at the game against Steubenville was one fan who painted on his chest the words, "Rape Big Red."
Players and Families Wait
Big Red's season ended in early November, and the daily conversation in town is less and less about the suspected rape than it is about how the team will perform next year.
But inside a courtroom at the county jail, less than two miles down a hill from the football stadium, the debate over what happened to the girl that summer night is still unfolding.
The hearings in the case are open to the public, but court documents regarding the matter are sealed because the defendants are juveniles. Mays and Richmond were released to their families or guardians last month, though they must wear electronic monitoring devices and are allowed to leave home only to attend school at the county jail or church. On school days, they head to classes at the jail, wearing their new uniform: green sweat pants and tan shirts, which have numbers on their left sleeves.
Last month, Mays's father, Brian, declined to be interviewed, saying, "It'll all work out." From the street outside his house, two shelves filled with athletic trophies could be seen inside a second-story room.
Richmond's father, Nate, said his son was innocent. In September, he camped outside the county jail next to a banner that read, "Set my people free."
"He didn't do anything," Richmond said.
Ma'lik Richmond now lives with his legal guardians, Jennifer and Greg Agresta, in a middle-class neighborhood with neatly trimmed lawns. A basketball hoop sits on the street in front of his house. Greg Agresta is a member of the school board.
Richmond's grandmother, Mae, said the charges surprised her because Ma'lik had been so focused on sports and school, with hopes of leaving Steubenville for a better life and having a better life than his father, who has served time in prison and been charged with many crimes, including manslaughter.
"Me and Coach Reno was talking, and he said Ma'lik was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said.
Adam Nemann, Mays's lawyer, said the case was unusual because the police collected no physical evidence or testimony from the girl who asserts she was raped.
"The whole question is consent," he said. "Was she conscious enough to give consent or not? We think she was. She gave out the pass code to her phone after the sexual assault was said to have occurred."
Walter Madison, Richmond's lawyer, said his client was already at a marked disadvantage because so many people discussed the incident online, through blogs and on Twitter.
"It's an uphill battle because you've got social media going on and people formulating opinions, people who weren't there and don't know what happened," he said. "In a small community, it exponentially snowballs out of control. I think the scales are a bit unbalanced."
He said that online photographs and posts could ultimately be "a gift" for his client's case because the girl, before that night in August, had posted provocative comments and photographs on her Twitter page over time. He added that those online posts demonstrated that she was sexually active and showed that she was "clearly engaged in at-risk behavior."
The lawyers for the boys also said the three athletes who testified against their clients had credibility issues. The lawyers said that the police had found photographs of nude women on the phone of one of the witnesses, and that two witnesses had admitted recording some aspect of the suspected assault. Those alone could be crimes, the lawyers said, but the witnesses were given immunity from prosecution. Their testimony, the lawyers suggested, might have been given in a bid for leniency.
The special prosecutors on the case, Marianne Hemmeter and Jennifer Brumby of the Ohio attorney general's Crimes Against Children unit, declined to comment because the investigation was open.
But in court, they have rejected the defense's claims. The girl, they have said, was in no condition to give consent to sexual advances that night — and the teenagers there knew it, the prosecutors said.
At a hearing in early October, prosecutors told the judge in the case that the defendants treated the girl "like a toy" and, "The bottom line is we don't have to prove that she said no, we just have to prove that when they're doing things to her, she's not moving. She's not responsive, and the evidence is consistent and clear."
At a hearing last month, the girl's mother said her daughter remained distraught and did not want to attend school. The girl's friends have ostracized her, and parents have kept their children away from her, the mother said.
The girl does not sleep much, said the mother, who testified that she often hears her daughter crying at night.
The mother said the obsession with high school football in Steubenville is partly to blame. It shocked her that Saccoccia testified as a character witness for the defendants last month, she said.
In the courtroom that day, she remembered thinking, how dare he?
"Just Coach Reno saying he would testify for those boys, saying he was so proud of them, that speaks volumes," she said. "All those football players are put on a pedestal over there, and it's such a status symbol to play for Big Red, the culture is so different over there."
The mother added: "I do feel like they've had preferential treatment, and it's unreal, almost like we're part of a TV show. It's like a bad 'CSI' episode. What those boys did was disgusting, disgusting, and for people to stand up for them, that's disgusting, too."


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Will someone please tell the writers of hymn lyrics (though most are no longer living) that the word "heaven" is clearly a 2 syllable word. Just because a " ' " is added making the word read "heav'n", doesn't mean that this word should suddenly be read/sung as a 1 syllable word. (In fact, "heav'n" still has 2 syllables). Of course, I wouldn't mind this at all if the lyric writers followed proper verbal immunity etiquette by adding "if you will" or "as it were" or "if you like" or "for lack of a better way of making this word fit the musical measure…"
Hymn lyric frustration
2 Responses to "Hymn lyric frustration"
bucky Says:
May 20, 2009 at 1:25 pm |
I'm no theologian, but I'm willing to bet that most, if not all, of the lyricists responsible for the lyrics in hymns have long since departed this existence.
I suppose since eternal life is, well, eternal, time is a different concept than it is here on the big blue marble, and so meter may not work there like it does here.
joshywoshybigfatposhy Says:
May 20, 2009 at 1:58 pm |
must've been the british guy who came up with 'secratree' = secretary, among others.


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Don't Starve on April 24, or anytime really
Don't Starve is coming to Steam on April 24 for $15, and will be followed by six months of free updates.
Don't Starve, the resource-gathering adventure game from Mark of the Ninja developer Klei Entertainment, has set a date. The game will launch on Steam on April 24 for $15.
Klei Entertainment told Joystiq that following its official launch, the game will receive six months of free content. The game is influenced by Minecraft, which has benefited greatly from a constant stream of updates, so it makes sense to keep players engaged with shiny new things.
We've seen plenty of the game's main character, Wilson, but other unlockable characters will have special abilities. Willow, a girl who can light her own fires, was shown at PAX East.
Klei has already been creating additional content in closed beta, as it has offered extra content semiweekly. You can pre-order at a lower price, and get beta access to boot. Or, you could try out a free timed demo on Chrome.
Steve Watts posted a new article, Don't Starve on April 24, or anytime really.
Don't Starve is coming to Steam on April 24 for $15, and will be followed by six months of free updates.


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Posts Tagged 'evangelism tools'
She's A Hard One
If I told you right now to take out your cell phone and scroll down the contacts would there be someone there that needed Jesus? If not we should be perusing a friendship with people who do not know Jesus. You might say, "Riley I'm not called to that type of ministry. I don't have the gift of evangelism. I give to ministries that minister to the lost." That's an excuse that most Christians and churches use to cover up the truth of them not wanting to get out of their Christian bubble and minister to the lost in the real world. It's kinda like that movie the Truman show. We are caught up in our perfect little Christian world. With never a grasp on the real world. Someone once said, "they're to spiritual for earthly good."
Jesus gave us a mandate to go into all the world to reach out to everyone. A pastor told me one time, "Riley, I never can find someone who doesn't know Jesus." They said they would ask people, (like most do) "Do you know Jesus?" And the response she would always get was "Sure, I know Jesus." Then they would assume after that response they were a Christian and say, "God Bless You" and then leave the person. That is not evangelism at all. We are called to share the Good News. Do you know Jesus isn't good news.
Many people know about Jesus but have never had a personal relationship with him. That's why we must spend a little more time to find out where they're at and not just assume they are a Christian.
Jesus was a friend of notorious sinners the bible says they came to hear him speak and he even ate with them. (Luke 15:1-2 NLT) If Jesus was here today he would not be at a believer's convention, he'd be hanging out with sinners winning the lost. And if you are following him you would be hanging out with sinners winning the lost. I was at a church in Maine and actually had the people in the congregation to pull out their cell phones and to this day do it often. She scrolled down her contacts and saw a lady who wasn't saved and she thought "she's a hard one, I'm not calling her we've been working on her for years." Then she kept scrolling. That very second the same lady she commented on called her! She knew this was The Lord so after the service she went to a Sunday school room and called the lady. She told her she loved her and knew she needed to ask her if for some reason she died would she be confident she would be in heaven. The lady answered no she wasn't sure so she shared the Romans scriptures and then led her in a prayer to receive Jesus! God's word will not return void! Let's all spend a little more time with those around us. Let's stop working on 'em and love on them.
I pray today you'll make a new friend to add to your contact list so you can reach out to them and love them in to a relationship with your Heavenly Father.
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Turn Your Light on at Halloween
Whether or not to participate in Halloween activities has been a big debate among the members of the Body of Christ. As believers, we have nothing to fear when the Holy Spirit is our guide. What does He have to say about this issue?
The Bible tells us not to "copy the behavior and customs of this world" (Romans 12:2, New Living Translation). But this verse should not be an excuse for us to shut the door on the world. We also need to let our light shine, as my family and I learned a long time ago—especially on the darkest day of the year!
For years my wife, Kim, and I would not turn on our porch light at Halloween. When persistent trick-or-treaters knocked on our door anyway, our family ignored them. We would not let our girls carve pumpkins or color Halloween artwork at school or go trick-or-treating.
Then one year the Lord spoke this scripture to our family: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16, New King James Version). We realized that God wanted us to reach out to our neighbors on Halloween night. So we changed our MO! We bought good candy, not the cheap stuff—you know, the kind that has bubble gum in it that loses its flavor as soon as you put it in your mouth. We got chocolate bars! And we began to minister the love of God to those who were participating in Halloween. We handed out candy to our neighborhood kids, gave them tracts, and asked them if we could pray with them about anything.
Halloween is a great time for us to get to know our neighbors. Streets are packed with parents and children. Paul said it this way: "When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings" (1 Corinthians 9:22–23, NLT).
As Christians, we walk every day in the burden-removing, yoke-destroying power of God (see Isaiah 10:27). If we close our door on our neighbors at Halloween, if we "turn our lights off," we miss a big opportunity to remove burdens and destroy yokes from other people's lives.
My family's outreach began with just us. Later we started taking friends out with us onto the streets in our community to share the love of Christ at Halloween, and over time the ministry grew.
One church in Athens, Ohio, found out about what we were doing and invited me and my ministry team to come minister at the nation's largest Halloween block party, which takes place in their city every year. This block party draws about 80,000 college-age kids, who come every year to drink and party on Halloween night. In 2009 we started taking teams to the event to share the gospel with young people, and since then thousands have received Jesus as Lord and Savior on the darkest day of the year.
Another church, this one in Roscoe, Illinois, whose pastor is a friend of mine, uses Halloween as their biggest outreach of the year. They bring carnival rides in and provide free popcorn, hot dogs and cotton candy. They clear out their sanctuary and set up games for the kids, and then they present a gospel skit. Every year at least 5,000 people attend this event. A lot of people in the community don't even offer candy for trick-or-treating—they send people to my friend's church instead!
I'm not saying that we should dress up as the devil and participate in dark activities. We should dress normally when we minister on Halloween night. When people see us loving, rather than judging the people who go to haunted houses or go trick-or-treating, the Bible says they will begin to glorify the heavenly Father. We should be a light in the darkness.
The Bible says that "God is love" (1 John 4:8). When we begin to look like love, talk like love and act like love, God who is love will manifest Himself through us, spreading His light to a lost and dying world. I pray that this Halloween you will open up your door and turn on your light to harvest souls for God's kingdom.
Watch the Video. CLICK HERE
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Obedience Brings Blessing
Chad went to our evangelism training one Friday night but was unable to go with our team on the next day's Saturday outreach. But God still had outreach plans for Chad!
As Chad drove through the city on Saturday, he saw a man sitting on the side of the road. As he passed the man, the Lord asked him if he was going to put into practice what he had learned at the evangelism training the night before. Chad was a little nervous, because this was the first time he'd ever tried to lead anyone to Christ. But he immediately turned his vehicle around, parked, and got out to talk to the man.
This man had a case of beer by his side and a can of beer in his hand. Chad ministered to him using our pocket reference card, and the gentleman prayed to receive Jesus! As he prayed, tears began to roll down the man's cheek. He was so thankful that Chad had stopped what he was doing to minister to him.
Then, unexpectedly, the man continued to give Chad thanks. With tears still in his eyes, he reached to shake Chad's hand. "I felt something in his hand," Chad told me "and I knew exactly what it was." When Chad opened his hand, he saw a hundred-dollar bill. Chad didn't want to receive it because he hadn't reached out to the man in the hopes of being rewarded, but the man insisted because he was so thankful for what the Lord had just done for him. So Chad received the blessing from the gentleman.
When Jesus needed money to pay His tax, he told Peter to go fishing, and Peter found the tax money both for Jesus and for himself in the mouth of the fish he caught. Chad and his family really needed that hundred-dollar bill. The Lord knew that, and basically, He had told Chad to "go fishing."
Jesus said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matt. 4:19, KJV). The Lord needed Chad to minister the good news to this man sitting at the side of the road. Chad was obedient to hear from the Lord. He acted on the word of God to him, and he found a blessing on the other side of his obedience. The Bible says, "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land" (Isa. 1:19, NKJV), and, "He who reaps receives wages" (John 4:36, NKJV). I'm sure Chad and his family ate well that Saturday night! There is always a blessing on the other side of our obedience.
I'm so thankful there is another name written in heaven! All of heaven is rejoicing! I pray today that you will be obedient to the Lord's prompting when He wants you to minister to the lost. You can do it! If God is for you, no man can be against you!
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Hearing God's Voice to Win Souls
Learning to listen to the Spirit of God in the area of leading someone to Jesus comes from meditation on and study of God's Word. When we choose to obey God in the slightest things, it brings us to maturity in the Lord.
God told Joshua to never stop speaking about the Word of God. He told him to recite it day and night so that he could carefully obey everything written in it. That is what made Joshua accomplish his objectives and made him successful (see Josh. 1:8). Jesus Himself said, "I only do what I see My Father do, and I only say what I hear My Father say" (see John 5:19; 8:28).
If we lack knowledge of what God says to do, it is difficult for us to know when the Spirit of God is leading us to a person. The Spirit of God will never lead us in opposition to God's written Word. The Bible says that it is God's will for all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (see 1 Tim. 2:4), so we know that God wants us to share the gospel with others.
When you're not sure whether the Holy Spirit is leading you to minister to someone, rely on the peace in your heart. The Bible says, "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace" (1 Cor. 14:33, kjv). Before you go out to share your faith, ask the Lord where He wants you to go, and then, when you get there, ask Him who He wants you to talk to. It's really simple. And it takes the pressure off us! God shows us exactly where to go and what to do.
On one of our evangelistic outreaches, we were in a Walmart. As we were getting ready to leave, one of the ladies said to the Lord, "Lord, if You're done, I'm done, but if You're not done here, show me what else You want me to do." Right then she heard the Lord say, "There will be one more girl your age for you to talk to, and she'll be wearing a pink shirt." Almost immediately this woman noticed a lady her age wearing a pink shirt. She spoke with the lady using our pocket reference card—and prayed with her to receive Jesus!
Notice that this woman did three things:
1. She waited for peace in her heart—she let the Word of God in her heart "act as umpire" (Col. 3:15, amp).
2. She talked to the Lord—she asked God, "Show me what to do," knowing that it was not about her.
3. She obeyed exactly what the Lord showed her to do.
It is so simple to hear God's voice and then to obey it. We need to realize that we are not the ones who bring about salvation in others. The Holy Spirit leads, guides, and directs us as to where we should go, whom we should talk to, and what we should say.
Jesus said, "I don't speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say" (John 12:49–50, nlt).
I pray that you'll be open today to the Holy Spirit's prompting and that you will obey what He tells you, knowing that His words spoken through you will lead someone to eternal life.
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Share Your Faith This Easter!
Share your faith – use these free resources!
This season is sure to open doors for you to share your faith…and I'm going to help make it EASY for you with a bunch of FREE resources you can download today!
First, grab this handy card with prompts for breaking the ice about your faith, scriptures you can share, and three simple sentences anyone can pray to make Jesus their Lord.
Next, download these two tracts. The first one is another great help when leading someone to Christ, and the second is perfect to leave with them afterward, so they know what to do next.
Then, I want to sow two of my books into your life. The first will stir your faith for soul-winning. In the second, I show you how to maximize the effectiveness of your witness. They're both quick reads, and—yes!—feel free to share them with others.
Finally, if you want more, right now you can get both of my full-length books for the price of one! These books contain not only my heart on sharing your faith and some great Bible studies on evangelism, but they also include the practical tools you need to take the Good News to the world.Order now!
I hope you download, enjoy and USE all these powerful resources this season. Together, we'll be bringing in a HUGE harvest of souls!
Increasing His Kingdom,
Riley Stephenson
Minister of Evangelism
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
P.S. Remember kcm.org/next, too! It's a great resource website with videos and more for sharing your faith, and for following up with those whom you minister to.
Don't wait—these downloads will only be available for a little while. And the special offer on my books will only last until May 15, 2014. Get them all now!
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Guaranteed to Succeed
What if I told you that if you'd follow one simple rule, you'd be guaranteed to succeed?
In 1998 the Lord gave me a key to success. He told me to look at both Matthew 6:33 and Luke 19:10 in the Amplified Version. Here is what the two verses say:
But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides. (Matt. 6:33)
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)
Looking at these two scriptures together opened my eyes to something: Seeking God's kingdom and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33) includes seeking and saving the lost (Luke 19:10). When we win the lost, God will give us the things we need as well.
In other words, if we need money or provision, we should win the lost—and God will meet our needs.
Wow, Riley, is it that simple? Yes, my friend, it is. When we make it our priority to seek and save the lost, God will give us everything we need to get the job done.
How does it work?
First, if we are going to win the lost, we must be followers of Jesus. Jesus told His disciples, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matt. 4:19, NKJV).
Jesus had to show the disciples what following means. One morning a crowd was pressing in on Jesus (see Luke 5:1–11). Jesus noticed Peter's empty boat, so He stepped into it—without asking Peter if He could—so that He could teach the people without being crushed. Peter went along with this arrangement, and when he did, his boat became a tool for the preaching of the gospel.
Then, after Jesus used Peter's boat to preach, He told Peter to go fishing. Peter and the others launched his boat, even though they were tired. They had already fished all night and caught nothing.
What was Jesus trying to show these guys? He was teaching them that following Him means going where He goes, doing what He does, saying what He says. If we are going to seek and save the lost, we have to follow Jesus and be willing to do anything He asks us.
Second, if we want to receive God's provision, we must allow God to use our resources. Proverbs 19:17 says, "If you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD—and He will repay you!"
Peter let Jesus use his boat to preach the gospel, and Jesus repaid Peter far beyond all he could ever ask or think. When the disciples gave their time and strength and headed out for one more round of fishing, they caught a boat-sinking load of fish!
Much later, after Peter had followed Jesus for many months, the same principle was at work. When Peter needed money to pay a tax, Jesus told him, "Go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first; and when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money: take that and give it to them for Me and you" (Matt. 17:27, NKJV).
In John 4:36 Jesus said, "The harvesters are paid good wages" (NLT). What kind of wages was He talking about? Well, the answer is twofold. Jesus went on to say that the fruit they would harvest is people brought to eternal life. Glory to God! But did Peter and the others receive only a spiritual wage from that boat-sinking catch they made? No! They turned that catch into provision for mission. They used it to become fishers of men. Where God guides, He provides.
A pastor friend of mine recently told me, "Riley, your breakthrough might be in the mouth of the next fish you catch." Wow! I'd say it's time to fish!
When you follow Jesus and let Him use your resources to win the lost—you are guaranteed to succeed!
In commercial airline travel, there are many flight options. Some flights are direct. Others connect through one or more cities on the way to their final destination. Sometimes flights are delayed or even cancelled.
Recently I was scheduled to speak at a church in Elmira, New York. I decided to arrive in Elmira a day early so that I would have plenty of time to prepare for my first service. I flew out of Dallas, Texas, and landed in Chicago for what was to be a short layover. After hours of delay, however, I was informed that my flight out of Chicago had been cancelled and that there were no flights heading anywhere near Elmira.
At this point I had a decision to make. I could take my shoe off and wave it threateningly at the airline staff while cussing, or I could find another way to my destination.
People ask me all the time, "How do I fulfill God's calling on my life?" or, in other words, "How do I get to my destination?"
The answer is easy: cast all your cares upon God. Psalm 37:23 says, "The Lord directs the steps of the godly" (nlt). Our problem is that too often we attempt to lean on our own understanding instead of trusting in the Lord.
Don't believe me? How many times have you prayed, pondered and begged God in order to figure out your calling in life? As human beings, our flesh nature wants to be in control. We don't just want to know all the details of our lives, we crave to know them. Regardless of our desires, however, God doesn't want us to crave our destiny. He wants us to crave Him.
When you were seven years old, did you ever guess that your life would pan out the way that it has? Have you made good decisions as well as some bad ones, and have you walked through things that seemed out of your control? You see, though, God planned for all those "unexpected" detours in your life. He is the One who gave you the freedom to make choices, whether good or bad. But thankfully, God also so carefully designed His plan for your life that He provided you more than one way to arrive at the destination He has in mind for you.
God wants you to trust Him, no matter where you are, because His perspective is bigger than yours! He wants you to arrive at your destination. But the journey you are on as you make your way there is forging you into the person you will need to be when you arrive at your stopping place.
So what did I do when I found myself stuck in Chicago? While everyone else started a small riot at the ticket counter, I calmly left, rented a car, drove seven hundred miles to Elmira and made it on time to the service. It wasn't the way I had hoped to get to my destination, but God was faithful to get me where I needed to be as I committed myself to trust Him, one step at a time.
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Have you ever stopped in the middle of the things you were doing and realized that you were stuck on autopilot?
You know what I mean. The alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m. You stumble to the coffee pot, get dressed, get the kids ready for school, make and eat breakfast, fight the morning traffic, work all day in your cubicle, see your co-workers, go home, make dinner, watch TV, go to bed—and the next day you hit the repeat button. Sure, some things may differ a bit from day to day, but by and large you could probably traverse your daily routine without even thinking about what you're doing.
People often say that they want change in their lives, but for all our alleged desire for change, what happens when something messes up our routine? What happens when things don't go exactly the way we expect or want them to?
I recently had such an experience. It had been a long day, and I had gone to a restaurant with my friends. I just wanted to get my food and relax. The restaurant, however, was packed. Once we were seated, our waitress had so many patrons that she could barely keep up with them all. When my order didn't arrive exactly as I had placed it, I got a bit upset that she hadn't been paying more attention to me and my selfish "needs."
At this point one of my friends noticed that our waitress needed prayer for healing. He asked her if she wanted prayer, and she responded, "I can always use prayer." So my friend said, "Riley, why don't you pray for her?"
Now I was having a temper tantrum in the restaurant that day. I didn't want to pray for our waitress. But I did it anyway. I grabbed the woman's hand and prayed that the Lord would remove any sickness in her body.
Not only was our waitress healed, but she prayed then and there to rededicate her life to the Lord. I had almost missed the opportunity to be a blessing to our waitress that day!
I truly believe that most Christians want to see the lost saved and the sick healed. But at times we get so busy with our own lives that it's as if we're stuck on autopilot. We pray for God to give us opportunities to reach out to others around us, but we fail to see the opportunities He gives us because all we see is ourselves.
My prayer for you is that God would give you eyes to see the lost and the hurting on a daily basis. Join me in this prayer: "Lord, give me eyes to see beyond my wants and my needs, and use me to reach the lost and hurting around me. Amen."
Led by God's Spirit
I was at a church one weekend leading evangelism training sessions, and after the Saturday morning meeting, we went out into the city for the day to minister to people about Jesus. That evening, as we continued walking the streets, I started hearing in my spirit the letters "VFW" over and over again. The impression persisted, so I asked one of the ladies who lived in the city if they had a VFW there. She told me that they did.
I told the group that I felt like we should go to the VFW, so off we went. As we walked into the building, we saw people playing pool. Others were standing at the bar, and there was a big group sitting at a table.
I walked up to the people at the table and began ministering to the whole group. At first they all listened, but when I started quoting Scripture, half of them started talking among themselves. But there was one woman standing near me who was listening intently. This woman was holding a beer mug and a lit cigarette, both in one hand, and she kept right on smoking and drinking as I talked. I was astonished that she could do all that with one hand!
But this lady heard the gospel message, and when I finished talking, she prayed to receive Jesus! I knew that God's word would not return void and that it would prosper in her life.
Several months later I saw the pastors from the church where I had taught, and they told me that they had seen the lady from the VFW. She told the pastors that at the time we had seen her, she had been going to church and also going to the bars. She had been riding the fence with her faith. When we came into the VFW that night, this woman said she knew it was a sign from God. She rededicated her life to Jesus that night, quit going to the bars and has been in church ever since. Glory to God! I believe the Lord sent us there for that one lady!
Being led by God's Spirit is the most adventurous and rewarding life! Open your heart to hear what the Spirit is saying to you today!
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A Father's Love
One of my favorite stories in the Bible is about the prodigal son in Luke 15.
"So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. (Luke 15:20 NLT)
I love that "filled with LOVE and COMPASSION" he ran!
The Father in this story had every right to be mad and offended at his son. He had every right to disown him. The young boy had stooped to the lowest level of society. He could have demanded a full repayment of the money that had been spent. I believe everyday the father was looking out into the field saying to himself, "that son of mine is coming home." While the son was out in the world partying up to his neck in sin, the father was watching, waiting, longing for his son to come home.
Compassion sees a problem and has an overwhelming desire to alleviate the suffering.
The father when he saw his son, covered from head to toe in pig slop didn't turn up his spiritual nose! No! He gave him a big hug and a kiss. He told the servants to restore him! He never gave up on his son. He didn't stop believing, and he never gave up.
We cannot lose our compassion for those who are lost. The bible says "Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe." (2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT) They don't even know what they are doing because they're not in their "right mind." In verse 17 it says "When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself…"(Luke 15:17 NLT) It's our job to pray for the lost not to judge or condemn.
God never gave up on us when we were out in the world in sin. We should never give up on our family members. Never give up on our co-workers. Never give up on or friends. Never stop believing for them. God will show you how to minister to them. Like the father, fill yourself with love and compassion concerning the lost and soon you'll see yourself running after them bringing them home.


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For those of you who loved The Glass Castle, here is another great story from Walls, again based on her family members; this time it is about her no nonsense, feisty grandmother. And if you haven't read The Glass Castle, drop everything and run to the library.
This is fiction but it is really the story of Jeannette Walls' grandmother, Lily Casey Smith. In Walls' signature offhand, unsentimental voice, the story unfolds of a remarkable woman. Yes, she broke horses, but she did way more than that. She was a surviver and adventurer, no dream too big or unusual for her to tackle.
What I enjoyed most about Half Broke Horses, after first reading The Glass Castle, was an understanding of the family that Rosemary Smith Walls grew up in. It does shed some light on that memorable character and what made her who she was.